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Zhang Xinjie opened his eyes 3 minutes before six. He allowed himself 3 minutes to fully surface from the dregs of sleep, then began his morning routine.
It was Sunday and therefore Team Tyranny’s rest day. After his brisk five kilometer walk, Zhang Xinjie headed toward the cafeteria, stepping through the doors at 7:30am sharp.
“Zhang Xinjie, there you are! Join us for the event in Glory today! The Guild has asked us to help out with some of the harder challenges.” Tray in hand, Zhang Jiale waved him down. Zhang Xinjie blinked in surprise at seeing him awake and active so early on a weekend.
“Don’t look at me like that.” Zhang Jiale clicked his tongue, although Zhang Xinjie was not making any particular expression. “I can wake up early. And the event looks pretty exciting, I’ve been wanting to play since it launched!”
[ All Hallows’ Eve ] had officially begun a few days prior. Despite being themed around Halloween, it was Glory’s flagship summer event of the year. Zhang Xinjie had heard the training camp attendees discussing it but himself had not been much interested.
He considered his schedule, which was planned out to the minute. A refusal was already on the tip of his tongue–the last time he had agreed to such a request, it had taken the unprecedented scenario of Ye Xiu's re-appearance in-game after an unceremonious yet inexplicable retirement to persuade him of an itinerary change.
An uncharacteristic urge, however, stopped him. What came out of Zhang Xinjie's mouth instead was: "Very well. After breakfast.”
The chances of encountering Guild Happy during a Glory event were unfortunately high. The chances of encountering the members of Team Happy were even higher. The chances of exchanging blows with Ye Xiu himself over the event’s rewards were so astronomically high Zhang Xinjie began to make contingency plans before his computer even booted up.
“Senior," said Song Qiying, tilting his phone screen to show a fast-scrolling chat, "It looks like Blue Rain will be present too.”
"Doubt the other teams will be far behind," Qin Muyun agreed. "Guess everyone is keeping busy."
“Tch. Let them come, who’s afraid of them?!” said Zhang Jiale scornfully.
Just as Zhang Xinjie predicted, shortly after they engaged the first wild boss, the tell-tale sounds of chaos that followed in Lord Grim’s wake reached their screens.
"If it isn't lao-Zhang and xiao-Zhang," Ye Xiu's teasing voice came through their headsets. "Come to play with this retired old man?"
"Die!!!!"
"Begin the flanking maneuver," Zhang Xinjie interrupted before Zhang Jiale could be baited into more trash-talk.
The following fight was quick and fierce, but Tyrannical Ambition's superior numbers lead by Zhang Xinjie's tactics allowed them to claim the boss in the end. Ye Xiu and his alliance members retreated without much fuss which sent some tittering through the guild chat, but Zhang Xinjie would leave investigating Guild Happy's wider movements to the guild leadership.
[ Player Gleaming Light Obtained Item “Dark Mage’s Hourglass” ]
“Holy hell!!!!” Zhang Jiale’s shout cut through his headset as the notification flashed on everyone’s screens.
“We are in the same room. Do not yell.”
At Zhang Jiale’s urging, Zhang Xinjie opened his inventory to inspect the item. He had read through the list of rare materials obtainable during [ All Hallows’ Eve ], but this item did not stand out to him as particularly unique despite having the highest rarity of all available drops.
Truthfully, the design itself was nothing special even if Zhang Xinjie could not proclaim himself an expert in aesthetics. It was a gothic-styled hourglass adorned with thematically appropriate elements like bats and bones, with black sand falling endlessly into the bottom half. A braided leather strap looped through a gap in the hourglass’s scaffold created by a twisting mass of bones.
Zhang Jiale read over his shoulder: “‘Pendant: Dark Mage’s Hourglass. The ever-flowing timekeeping device of an evil mage. Rumors say that this hourglass has the ability to manipulate time, though all who have tried to use it have fallen victim to the mage’s curse.’ Huh? This is just an accessory. You can’t even use it as a crafting material?! Why is it the highest rarity?!”
“Accessories with limited use being extremely rare drops is not unheard of,” Zhang Xinjie said, “Although they usually provide some benefit. Perhaps Glory is experimenting with a change to their cosmetics model. Regardless, we have 92 minutes remaining before lunch. If we wish to complete Jiang You’s requests before then”–unsaid, before I leave, whether or not the tasks are done–”we’d best continue.”
Zhang Xinjie opened his eyes 3 minutes before six am. He allowed himself 3 minutes to surface from sleep, then sat up.
It was Monday, so after his brisk five kilometer walk, he went to the cafeteria. After breakfast, he would need to begin preparing for the day’s training sessions.
“Zhang Xinjie, there you are! Join us for the event–"
He paused while picking up a tray. “It’s Monday. We have morning training today, there’s no time to run the event.”
“Huh?? Did your brain get scrambled? It’s Sunday–the mandatory rest day you prescribed!”
It was not Sunday. Yesterday was Sunday, and Zhang Xinjie clearly remembered logging into Glory to grind materials with Zhang Jiale and the two juniors. He said so, but Zhang Jiale squinted at him in confusion before pulling out his phone to display the date.
The seconds in which Zhang Xinjie stared at the phone screen felt abnormally long.
“...Alright,” he conceded. “Let’s meet in the training room after breakfast.”
The day progressed the same as Zhang Xinjie remembered. He clashed with Ye Xiu over the wild boss and obtained the Dark Mage’s Hourglass. He listened to Zhang Jiale’s exclamations, leaving the item in his inventory as he continued assisting Tyrannical Ambition.
After, Zhang Xinjie let Zhang Jiale speak to Jiang You while he opened his storage. Selecting the hourglass, he clicked “Discard” from the options that popped up. However, instead of disappearing, a quest notification appeared on his screen.
Despite his better judgement, Zhang Xinjie's mouse moved.
[ Dark Mage's Apprentice ]: Congratulations! Or maybe I should say, how unlucky.
[ Dark Mage's Apprentice ]: Our cunning and malevolent master has chosen to bless you with his sacred relic.
[ Dark Mage’s Apprentice ]: We hope you enjoy the fruits of our master’s life work.
There was nothing more. Zhang Xinjie pushed aside the niggling discomfort rising within him and dismissed the dialogue as flavor text.
Before he logged out, he pulled up the hourglass again. Something about the sprite was different–it was the sand, he realized. The sprite was a loop of sand falling, with the top half’s perpetually replenishing grains falling into an abyss. The bottom half would never become filled–an easy shorthand for the hourglass's lore. But now, the amount of sand in the top half had lowered slightly with a thin black line of sand piling up at the bottom.
Unsettled, Zhang Xinjie decisively closed the game. Perhaps he was misremembering–the “previous” day was a dream, after all.
It was Sunday.
This time, he refused Zhang Jiale’s request without hesitation.
It was Sunday again.
And again.
And–
Zhang Xinjie stared at the dark ceiling and considered going right back to sleep. Once, the mere thought of doing so would never have occurred to him, but Zhang Xinjie’s mind was no longer his, stuttering unsteadily around thoughts that refused to form. The edges of his consciousness felt frayed like a worn cloth, meagre threads unraveling more with each moment.
His body was used to the routine of life he had quite happily carved out for himself. His body ached to return to that familiar rhythm, to move through the world confident in what the future would bring, and to know that despite the unpredictable irregularities of life, he could always order it into something sensible. The certainty he had long grown accustomed to seemed nothing more than a fleeting wisp of wind, unable to be grasped.
Zhang Xinjie existed in a state of half dozing, half panicking for an unknown amount of time. His limbs felt heavy. There was a strange pressure in his chest. Foreign sensations that he could not hope to decipher in his current state.
Eventually, he found himself in front of the PC again.
After the first two occurrences, no matter which alt he chose, or whether he engaged with the boss, or logged in far before or far after everyone else, the hourglass appeared in his inventory.
The questline that had triggered so long ago had also progressed. The days blurred into each other and his once sharp memory was scattered enough that he could no longer clearly follow the plot, only that it was some strange yet cliche story about the forces of light and dark. Zhang Xinjie had searched fruitlessly online for any record of this quest, but all he found was the bare-bones description of the Dark Mage’s Hourglass.
He had also tried to avoid the training room, and often succeeded. But whatever this was didn’t seem to care, and upon returning to the game Zhang Xinjie would be mocked by whatever NPC the quest threw at him.
Telling someone–anyone–resulted in nothing. Zhang Jiale thought he was joking. Han Wenqing bodily dragged him to the clinic. The manager asked if he needed a few days off.
Today, after clicking through the next part of the quest, a new NPC appeared.
[ Acolyte of Dawn ] : Brave Cleric, you have toiled.
[ Acolyte of Dawn ] : Darkness has sunk its claws deep into the land.
[ Acolyte of Dawn ] : But remember. The night is always darkest before dawn.
[ Acolyte of Dawn ] : Perhaps, tomorrow, the sun will rise again.
! Quest Tip: Unlocked Skill [ Purification of Dawn ] !
When Zhang Xinjie’s eyes opened into the darkness, he did not wait. He shot out of bed and did not bother even throwing on a jacket over his pajamas.
Barreling through the hallways before the first rays of sunlight peeked over the horizon of City Q would normally be great cause for alarm, but there was no one to witness his bout of madness. After all, it was not yet six on a Sunday morning.
The same training room PC waited for him. Zhang Xinjie jabbed the power button and slid his account card into the reader. His fingers drummed in a nervous staccato against the table as the game loaded.
In Gleaming Light’s inventory, Dark Mage’s Hourglass stared back at him. It was the only item from [ All Hallows’ Eve ] in his inventory, despite having played multiple hours of the event on this very account, day after day. It was the only item from [ All Hallows’ Eve ] in his inventory, despite not having played a second of it at all.
The sand in the hourglass had nearly completely dripped into the bottom half, leaving the glass on the top coated with a residual, translucent sheen of black dust. Bizarrely, Zhang Xinjie wanted to reach through the screen to wipe the glass clean.
Gleaming Light selected the Dark Mage’s Hourglass. Gleaming Light removed it from his inventory and threw it on the ground. There was a new skill added to his skill bar. Without conscious thought Gleaming Light began to cast–if asked on the pain of death to name the spell or the key input, Zhang Xinjie would not have been able to answer.
As if removed from his own body, Zhang Xinjie watched as Gleaming Light released the spell and [ Dark Mage’s Hourglass ] shattered into pixel dust.
[ Congratulations!!! Player Zhang Xinjie has clean̨̧̼̻̞̫̘͉̯s̆́e̸̷d҉̵ ̸̷ ҉̵t̷̊h̷̉e҉̵ ̷̶̸ ̊̀ ̾͝Dͯ͠a̴̵r̸̷k҉̵ ̨̧̼̻̞̫̘͉̯M̷̶̸a̸̷g҉̵e̴̵'̨̧̼̻̞̫̘͉̯s̷̶̸s̷̶̸ ҉̵нǫ̧̼̻̞̫̘͉̯u̶͒r̸̷g̷̶̸l̷̶̸a̸̷s̴̐ś͘ ]
The master tactician’s brain was dead silent. He did not feel much of anything at all.
Zhang Xinjie snapped awake. He surged upward, reaching out to snatch his phone. The glare of the screen blinded him momentarily; he squinted through the light, only barely registering that he hadn’t put on his glasses.
It was Monday.